Woolen.



UNITED STATES Pans Wren EDOUARD LEUREN'I, 0F LILLE, FRANCE.

Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDOUARD LEURENT, a citizen of the French Republic,residing at No. 1 Rue Jeanne dArc, Lille, Department of Nord, France,have invented a new and useful Improvement in lVoolens, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The flannel fabrics employed for waistcoats, waist belts, under-shirts,chemises, vests, drawers, petticoats, girdles, and so forth are usuallywoven with the aid of woolen yarn, llama hair and even turf fiber orother vegetable material more or less useful from the hygienic point ofView. But in fact flannels of woolen yarn are the only goods whichapplied directly to the body are adapted to produce a special action,that is the slight stimulation known under the name of titillationproduced by the rough surface of the fabric. Flannel all wool has agreat aifinity for water moisture and vapor; it consequently absorbs theevaporation from the body in proportion as the perspiration occurs.Consequently the passage of the water from the gaseous condition or theevaporation produces a certain cooling, its return to the hygrometriccondition causes on the other hand an elevation of temperature. Thereresults from this an equilibrium which forms one of the essential meritsof the use of woolen tissue. The permanence of the action so necessaryin this case is due to the elasticity of the particles of the wool whichhave within a certain limit the faculty of reacting, of insulatingthemselves, of maintaining the integrity of the pores of the fabricinstead of closing them by uniting so as to form a kind of paste as isthe case with vegetable fibers under the action of water. Unfortunatelyup to this day flannel of pure wool which has been made has largely thedrawback of shrinking at the first washing, and moreover it shrinksforming a felt so that the elasticity of the wool threads is almostdestroyed and the pores of the material or the interstices between thethreads are suppressed. From this time onward the flannel does notfulfil its hygienic object and may become on the other hand absolutelyharmful. In order to remedy these different inconveniences, that is tosay, in order to make an unshrinkable flannel which preserves all itshygienic properties and which is at the same time of long duration, itsuffices to form the warp and the weft of the fabric in question ascomposite threads Application filed. March 18, 1907.

Serial No. 363,078.

of wool and linen. I make use of composite threads formed of one or moreyarns of wool and of one or more threads of linen and by causing to varythe number of the threads of the linen in proportion to the number ofthe threads of wool I may cause at will to predominate in the fabric thequalities suitable for one or another textile material. One might alsoemploy the twisted threads formed of threads or yarns of wool and oframie fiber, but this would only be a detail variation of the invention.The thread or threads of linen or of ramie twisted with one or morethreads of wool have flrstly for their object to prevent these latterthreads from shrinking and the fab ric from felting; moreover theycontribute to increase the strength of the threads which enter into thecomposition of the fabric or flannel.

It is unnecessary to explain here the methods employed for twisting thethreads because there is not-hing special therein and this operation iseffected by the ordinary means. Moreover it may be remarked that thefabric which is the object of the invention may be woven more or lessthick according to the application which it is desired to make of it;consequently according to a special case there is used simple mechanismfor producing the crossing of the threads, and in others double ortriple cloth is produced. There are combined consequently patterns inthe warp and in the weft in order to retain always for the circulationof air suflicient interstices. The threads may be warp or weft; they maybe all of the same color or of diiferent colors according to the kind offlannel which it is desired to produce. Finally the fabric may beproduced more or less thick as the object of the invention, making usefor this purpose of the looms usually employed.

1 am aware that it is not new to produce composite threads of wool andflax for use as a substitute for pure woolen yarns; also that it is notnew to produce fabrics of a mixture of vegetable fiber and woolen; alsothat it is not new to produce a fabric of mixed woolen and vegetablefibers from which the vegetable fibers are subsequently eliminated, andI do not claim such inventions.

1 am aware that it has been proposed herespun threads of such wool orhair with threads of cot-ton or other Vegetable matter, then using thecompound threads so produced in the production of a worsted fabric byWeaving, and then subjecting the fabric to a chemicaltreatment wherebythe vegetable fiber shall be destroyed. In this instance, however, thevegetable matter is i11- tended to be employed only as a means ofbinding the wool or hair fibers so that they shall not project and catchagainst the dents of the reed in being Woven so as to subject the yarnsto strain and to weakening by abrasion. It is intended to remain onlytemporarily associated with the wool or hair fibers, and to then bedestroyed so that the completed merchantable fabric shall be 0 .11-posed of nothing but wool or hair. It is obvious that the finishedfabric, being co n- EDOUARD LEURENT.

Witnesses J. A. A. SoHMrr'r, PAUL A BREY.

